


A complicated pack

by Noodlesinakup



Category: Naruto
Genre: BAMF Haruno Sakura, Danzo is still a little shit, F/M, Haruno Sakura is So Done, Haruno Sakura-centric, Konan is a big sister and you can't change my mind, Light Petting, Multi, Obsession, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Haruno Sakura, Slow Burn, Strong Haruno Sakura, but i guess it's fine if i make it healthy later, right????, there some kinda
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-10
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:33:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23082532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Noodlesinakup/pseuds/Noodlesinakup
Summary: She was returning for a mission and she was tired, not to mention chakra exhaustion was trying to invade her body, and with the little chakra she had left she was covering her pheromones as not to attract anyone else.She had fought for what seemed like hours with those rogue-nin outside the borders, and she was impatiently waiting for the gates to show themselves when she smelled 6 obnoxious scents.She smelled them before they had actually spotted her, or so it seemed.All of them were Alphas, judging by how their smell was filling her nostrils and a certain instinct in her was awaking.It didn't happen with Betas. Every one of them was an Alpha. She was SO fucked.
Relationships: Akatsuki/Haruno Sakura, Deidara/Haruno Sakura, Haruno Sakura & Uchiha Itachi, Haruno Sakura/Hidan, Haruno Sakura/Hoshigaki Kisame, Haruno Sakura/Kakuzu, Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Obito
Comments: 25
Kudos: 260





	1. Part I: Love bites

_Legends say that Omegas and Alphas descended from Kurama, the nine-tailed fox._

_The great demon_ _had encountered a group of humans while he was wandering alone on earth, and they offered him shelter and food for the winter. The fox witnesses their harmony in which they lived, how they would all protect each other and how they trusted each other with their lives. How everyone in their tribe was always ready to help anyone they encountered._

_When the time came for him to return to the forest, he decided to create his own descendants like that. Everyone would be in harmony and happiness. He took two humans from earth._

_A male, dominant and territorial but who was caring with his partner and could protect his family. Kurama gifted him canines like his own so that he could mark his partner with a special venom and deem them his and mating her partially. He would be the leader of the family: an Alpha. He would have special glands made to be recognized with the scent they produced. It would change from man to man to distinguish every Alpha._

_Then the fox took a female who was kind, generous and submissive, a girl who could take care of her partner properly. She would be the one to stay beside the Alpha: an Omega. The demon gifted her the ability to calm down her partner by touching the mark that he would leave with his fangs. She had special glands and would produce a smell that attracted Alphas. The smell would then change to everyone but her Alphas once she was completely mated, changing to a less perceptible version of the one they had before being marked._

_The Omega had to also mark her Alpha to bond the two souls. Once bonded, the Omega will enter pre-heat in winter and would overproduce pheromones, becoming a full heat after a complete mating._

_The rest were the population of his tribe. They would be the people that the Alpha and Omega ruled, made to comfort Alphas and Omegas when they were agitated and keep them calm: the Betas._

_It started nicely, the first Alpha and Omega had twins, and genes decided to create another Alpha and another Omega. But as time passed, Alphas started to become too much, and they had started killing Omegas to become the only species that would dominate._

_Kurama intervened, giving the last Omegas alive chink of his chakra. The Omegas started hiding -creating their own traditions and mores- in the central territories and created their own fighting techniques to defend themselves: The Omegatsume, a mixture of human's taijutsu and animal sparring that used the Kyuubi's chakra to upgrade their body in ways that normal chakra wouldn't permit._

_As of today, Omegas are very rare and their techniques are almost forgotten. Alphas stopped hostility and everything retained harmony again. Some of Kurama's precious daughters are still alive and are willing to teach the forgotten techniques._

* * *

She was returning for a mission and she was tired, not to mention chakra exhaustion was trying to invade her body, and with the little chakra she had left she was covering her exocrine glands as not to attract anyone else with her pheromones.  
She had fought for what seemed like hours with those rogue-nin outside the borders, and she was impatiently waiting for the gates to show themselves when she smelled 6 obnoxious scents. 

She smelled them before they had actually spotted her, or so it seemed because she wasn't dead yet. 

All of them were Alphas, judging by how their smell was filling her nostrils and a certain instinct in her was awaking, stirring in her gut lowly and it reminded her of an awakening beast. 

It happened too, when she smelled Kakashi or Naruto or Tsunade, so that meant that all of them were Alphas. 

This was hell. If any of them understood or found out that she was an Omega, they would probably chase her, consequentially catch her thanks to her chakra depletion, and eventually she would become a sex slave for the Akatsuki or something.

She tried to ignore the looming presences behind her and pull her hood just a little higher, it wasn't any day you saw a pink-haired kunoichi walking in the forest. (An effort that was then revealed to be completely useless)

Sakura stilled when she heard a coarse voice call her. 

"Hey, bitch!" It boomed, and her blood froze and she slowly turned around. Emerald met violet and she shivered violently, those eyes carrying something that quite scared her. It was a member of the organization mentioned rarely in Konoha's reports, but from what she had read he was an immortal with sadomasochistic tendencies. Full mouthed, completely crazy, and a bloody killer, Hidan -from what she remembered, that was his name- was notorious for his lunatic character and freaky rituals. 

She tried not to panic and think with a clear head because witty comments wouldn't let her get out of here alive. She put up a calm facade and tried to hide her pink strands better. Her movement didn't go unnoticed by the albino and he grinned at her.

"Whatcha hiding under that hood?" he asked. If he recognized her, there was no chance she was getting out of this alive. But she also didn't want to anger him by not responding or ignoring him.

"Nothing, sir." She answered calmly and inched a little back when his grin widened, now displaying snow-white teeth. 

"Just call me Hidan. I was wondering if Kakuzu-" a tanned man was suddenly behind the silver-haired man and he pointed at him with a snarl. The new arrival was tall. Like, _huge._ Sakura was sure that one of his biceps was probably as big as her whole leg. Not to mention the black mask that covered half of his face and his eyes. Damn those things were _scary_. The pupil was a neon green that _wasn't quite normal_ , and the fact that it was surrounded by a dull red that remembered her of dried blood didn't help at all. Hidan had eventually continued talking, but she was too deep in her musings to care. So much so that Kakuzu himself had to snap her back to reality.

"So? Are you a shinobi?" he snapped impatiently, and one of his hands that was in his black cloak re-emerged with a black thick book. _A Bingo Book._

She swallowed violently and nodded unsurely. 

"Yes." and she tipped her hood back, removing her hitai-hate in the process as to not let them see where village she was from. Maybe if she was lucky nobody recognized her. They looked at her skeptically and she didn't know if she felt utterly offended or completely frightened at being scrutinized like that. The tall man was quickly browsing through the pages of the book he had in hand and she started to panic.

"This is taking too long." a voice growled by the side, followed by a muffled 'thump'. And a big, blue, frowning _wall_ (were these guys all huge or was it just her being so small?) dropped to her left.

A big sword wrapped in bandages was hoisted against his shoulder and she suddenly remembered just _who_ this guy was. 

_Hoshigaki Kisame._

She was quickly _way more scared_ because if Hoshigaki was here, that meant that _he_ , too, was here-

"Indeed." His voice was cold. _Freezing_ dare she say. He landed beside his partner with an inaudible impact wearing an unreadable expression.

The Uchiha Itachi.

The man who had killed his whole clan. Who made Sasuke-kun leave the village -leave _her, damn it-_

"I know that pink hair, yeah." it was a voice and a scent she distantly recognized as familiar, and when she spotted the blond cascading hair and analyzed better the earthy, sweet and manly smell she finally realized he was Deidara. 

The blonde clicked his tongue in both annoyance and amusement.

"She's the Hokage's apprentice, the girl who killed Sasori-Danna and the one who found an antidote to his poison." he stared at her with a strange look and then turned to a bush, glaring "Tobi, get the fuck out already, yeah. She's outnumbered and can't hurt you." 

An orange head poked outside of a bush shyly, looking at her and then at Deidara. The man (?) carefully got out of the bush and observed her further. 

"Tobi is sorry, Deidara-sempai. Tobi was just thinking that Pretty-girl looked scary." Kakuzu interrupted them all, as he finally found what he was searching for. 

"She's classified as a B-rank kunoichi and has a bounty on her head" He stated grimly, and she started to back off for dear life "I _want_ her head" he finished, and _for god's sake why her._

She grabbed the kunai from his holster on her tight and infused a little of her chakra in the cloth around it. Hopefully, it would work. She saw Kakashi use it a couple of times in their spar and it didn't seem too difficult, but she knew where this technique came from. The yondaime Hokage had perfected it, and this was just a roughed-up version that she wanted -no, _had_ to use to escape from here. She didn't have enough chakra for the shunshin now tho. She had finished her chakra and now she was _totally dead-_

 **'Idiot! you still have the chakra stored** **around your glands! Use it!"**

 _'But they will know, Inner! Plus, I didn't actually_ block _the creation of the pheromones. There will be a bomb of my scent and it will be easier for them to follow my trail!_ '

 **'I know! But what will they do with that information? Just try to outrun them or... or -just do something!"**

Inner was right. She had to do this. She recalled the chakra covering her glands and everyone stilled. Sakura could actually feel her scent spreading in the area, reaching every nose in the small clearing. 

A beat of silence. 

"Omega...?" The shark-nin murmured wide-eyed. 

She glanced at everyone in the circle and noted that Deidara was trying to not get noticed while he greedily took in her scent (a thing that he didn't hide very well, _thankyouverymuch)_ and that Hidan was not even _trying_ to hide it. 

He was just breathing like he had a fucking panic attack, taking in as much air as he could through his nose and exhaling slow, ecstatic breaths (that were very similar to moans) to try and get as much of her mouthwatering smell he could take with foggy eyes.

Kakuzu, Itachi and the masked guy (Was it Tobi?) didn't look as affected as the others. She guessed for Kakuzu and Tobi that their masks should have helped receive minor air, hence less of her scent inhaled, but Itachi? His eyes were as black as ever, and his facial muscles didn't move.

**'YOU HAVE BETTER THINGS TO DO THAN LOOK AT THAT BASTARD! JUST THROW THAT DAMN KUNAI AND RUN! You can reach the first ANBU base and ask for help there!'**

It didn't sound so bad, now that she thought about it. Maybe she could try to hide in a space between the roots of a tree for a while and try to confound them leaving her scent all over the area. But that would require a lot of time an-

**'JUST. MOVE.'**

She took that moment to throw a kunai behind Hidan -who looked the more distracted between all of them- and shunshined to it, grabbing it and quickly darting off in the woods. 

They all shared a look of understanding. 

_'They had to get her. Now.'_ and the group of criminals started chasing after the pinkette, who unconsciously (but not so much) left behind the trail of her sweet, fine, intoxicant fragrance and making it easier for them to get to her. 

* * *

They were moving as a group, following not only the scent but the little steps she left on the branches with her boots. They had wanted to stop and confront them to their own feet, much larger and broader. It was just so cute. 

But they didn't stop, because right now they wanted to catch her. She was their prey now. 

Deidara and Hidan had gotten pretty serious on the subject as they were speeding through the forest, searching for the pinkette.

She, on the other hand, was slowing up pretty quickly. She was low on chakra, tired and she felt herself on the brink of exhaustion, but she couldn't slow down. She wasn't giving her freedom away so easily, so she continued to push her legs and run, jump and speed on the branches.

She started hearing rough stomps behind her and knew that they had reached her. 

There she was! She was slowing down and she looked really tired, but once they all marked her she would sleep. She would be fine and she would be all theirs. 

She couldn't! She couldn't stop now! She had to at least turn around and try to fight! 

When she touched the next branch she tried to rotate on the ball of her foot but failed miserably as her ankle twisted badly and her whole leg dropped, resulting in not only a bad injury, but in a strange position for her torso. She was still forward, but her leg was bent sideways. 

Deidara saw her step falter and she suddenly started slumping forward towards the ground. 

He pumped more chakra in his feet and launched himself towards her, catching her just as she was about to slip off the branch. The speed he had reached caused both of them to crash into a tree's trunk, but he managed to switch positions so she wouldn't hurt herself with the impact, and she crashed straight into his chest, knocking the wind out of him. 

He looked down at the pinkette, who was panting with blurry eyes. He jumped down on the ground, putting her delicately on the soft grass, and started observing her. 

It was obvious, now that he observed clearly, that she was different from the others. There was a certain curve of her hip, a certain softness in her features that screamed at the world that she was a creature to treat with care. Deidara noted how small she was. She had managed to scramble a little away from him, and he looked softly at her. 

"No need to be scared, yeah." He said, brushing a strand of pink silk out of her face. She flinched away and he felt air beside his head. When he again dropped his gaze to her, he saw that her knuckles were trembling right beside his right ear. 

_'She tried to punch me'_ He noted distantly. They still weren't marked. It was all right. She will soon be attached to them and she wouldn't try to hurt them. Maybe escape, but that was another problem that they will have to deal with later.

She didn't know what to do. It was obvious that they had her now, and even if she really tried to at least knock Deidara out, she missed.

She noticed that all of the 6 cloaked figures had arrived and Sakura braced herself to be drowning in Alpha's hormones for a while. 

"I got her, so I mark her first, yeah." 

Hidan started arguing hotly, and everyone else joined in. 

"TOBI WANTS TO MARK PRETTY-GIRL FIRST-"

"Could you... Could you just move and do it?" The pinkette murmured softly. It was clear that she had surrendered, but she was still scared of them. Itachi seemed to take pity on her and nodded at the blond to go first, resigned. 

Deidara got closer to her body and inspected it, trying to choose a place that would fit his bite. Would her wrist be right? Yeah, but he wanted it to be something special. He opted for the neck. He slowly lowered his head in the crook oh her neck, canines dripping with venom and mouth salivating. He bit carefully, as not to hurt her, and when she whined lowly he scattered butterfly-kisses on the interested area. He would take care of her right, he decided. 

She could feel the gentle kisses the blonde had scattered on her neck to try and soothe the pain she felt when his canines sank in the soft flesh of her neck, and though she didn't want to admit it to herself, she had appreciated. 

Sakura was, however, starting to slip into unconsciousness by the time Deidara had lifted his head, so she only felt Hidan's rough bite on her ankle before closing her eyes and falling asleep. 

After they all marked Kakuzu picked her in his arms, and when she snuggled closer in search of warmth he couldn't help but hold her a little tighter, just to make sure that she wouldn't slip away. Yeah, that was totally it, not because he liked the sensation of her in arms, pressing her head in his chest. 


	2. Part II: Isolation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may or may not have been lazy?  
> The world is kinda having a moment right now, and so am i.  
> Read fanfiction, draw, discover something you never knew, and try new things (that you can do safely at home). 
> 
> I am one of the lucky ones who hasn't lost anyone yet, so I can't really relate, but if anyone has, you have my condolences.  
> I can't really do much else but wish you luck and tell you to stay safe, have a good day.

When they exited the base to control the surroundings and catch the guy who made Itachi's genjutsu set off (and probably some bombs too, because there was a fucking earthquake), they didn't expect to come back with an Omega. And the Hokage's apprentice too! 

It all seemed so unreal to them. They were criminals, and S-ranked ones at that! They were bad guys, and yet they had one of the rarest things on earth. 

It was when Leader-sama had called them that they got a little on edge. What if he didn't want her here? What if she would be too dangerous to keep and they had to kill her? It would kill something in them too. 

All the members flickered in their shadowy form on their proper finger, leaving the left pinky finger void of any presence. Leader-sama talked.

"I feel another presence in your current hideout. Did you bring someone in there?" There was a beat of silence before Itachi answered for all of them. 

"It is a female Omega. She was the one in our confines. We recognize her as Haruno Sakura of Konohagakure, the Hokage's apprentice. We captured her." The next phrase went unsaid, but all of the people in the room could hear it perfectly fine. 

_And we marked her._

"I want to meet her in person." It came from the only female in the cave, a slender and tall figure. She was physically there, in the meeting room of the Akatsuki in Amegakure's tower with her partner and Leader. It surprised all of them that she actually showed interest in something so un-business like an Omega entering their base, but maybe since she was the Hokage's apprentice she could be useful to the organization? Yes, that could be it.

It seemed to surprise even Leader-sama, as his head slowly turned towards his companion. He scanned her with a cold violet gaze and she looked back at him calmly, amber orbs burning with a dull fire of determination. With a nod to her, he returned his attention to the group of men, who were still waiting for instructions on the girl knocked out cold on their living room.

"Konan will reach you at the hideout in two days. Keep the Omega alive until then. Dismissed." And that was that. Now they had to wait in this base for Konan to arrive and confront Sakura about who-knows-what. 

* * *

Obito wasn't sure why he had actually bitten her. 

Maybe it was because of the smell? Because his hormones were so fucked up that he lost control? Fact is, he was now stuck with a girl who he would have to kill, risking to not only get (more) fucked up in the head, but fucking up his plans as well. 

She was from Konoha. Those were too many memories. 

But when he actually thought about it, he found that he didn't have any desire to kill her.

 _'She is a medical prodigy, the Hokage's apprentice, she will be useful for my plan.'_ he tried to convince himself. _'She is kind too, and plus she is kinda cute.'_ He eventually decided that she would be useful. 

Yeah, maybe letting her stick around for a while won't hurt.

* * *

She wasn't really asleep, but she wasn't aware of her surroundings either. The only sense of familiarity was the constant humming from the thread inside of her, never-ending and flowing like a slow river. It needed concentration and focus, and she was good at that. 

Sakura had spent hours and hours meditating and studying, focusing came natural to her. 

Hours seemed to pass, and Sakura was slowly becoming more aware of where she was. 

Emerald eyes slowly opened, and, surprisingly she wasn't blinded by the oh-so-used interrogation light. Sakura was, instead, on a soft bed in a dark room. _Alone._

She was alone. Completely alone. None of her Alphas were in the room. 

Sitting up and tucking her legs under her, she began looking around. The room wasn't big, but it had a seemingly old desk with a stack of papers and some scrolls on it, with a chair. On the wall on her right there was a small window covered by a blue curtain, and she absently wondered where she was. She didn't open it, however. On her left side, a meter or so away from the bed was a big wardrobe. It was made of dark wood, and she found that she rather liked the carvings on it. What interested her the most was the two doors in her room, one right in front of her and one on the wall beside the wardrobe. The room was fine, but she was still alone. 

Now, she didn't know much about Omega and Alphas, she was pretty new to the thing, actually, but one of the basics was that her partner _needed_ to be there when she woke up. And they weren't. 

What did that mean? That they didn't care about her? That maybe they marked her to have a bond, and that she will eventually talk with enough persuading? Oh, she will not. 

A surge of sadness invaded her. She felt neglected, ignored. Was she really so bad of a woman? She wasn't Ino, but she was considered pretty in the village. Maybe boys stood away because of her and Shishuo's temper, but she really wasn't that bad! Maybe they were just overwhelmed by their hormones? They really hadn't wanted to mark her, but they did? She didn't-

Her throat felt tight and full, and she prepared for the waterworks she was about to produce.

A violent sob wracked her body and she fell forward, wrapping her arms around herself and assuming a fetal position. 

Sakura didn't want to feel like _he_ made her feel when he left her on that bench at night! She didn't! 

But what was she expecting? They were S-ranked criminals, and they surely wouldn't care about a kunoichi such as her sentimentally, Omega or not. Sakura was sure they were all pretty fucked up in the head already and that the loss of a mate wasn't much to them. But to her? She was a sixteen-year-old when she was first approached for being an Omega.

And it was... Well, it was when these guys found her. She wasn't sure what to do now, so she let her emotions take control of her.

Outside the room, her loud wailings could be heard.

It was sad to not be in there with her when she woke up, but Konan had insisted on letting her see Sakura first, so they were forced to stay outside. Tobi, Itachi, and Kisame always stood by the door, leaving their place only to living necessities, and when they did it was for a minute or two. The others wandered around after the first couple of hours or left for missions assigned by Leader-sama earlier. Only Tobi, Deidara, Itachi, and Kisame were left. 

(Hidan and Kakuzu had the common sense to at least say bye to her, and she surprisingly tried to talk between her sobs. They could hear that she was trying to calm down but couldn't make out what she was saying)

Hours passed.

She was quieter now, and even if they were prohibited to not see her, nobody had said nothing about not talking to her, so Kisame waited for Itachi and Tobi to go to sleep. 

"Tobi is a good boy and needs to go to bed early, Tobi will, however, come back in the morning for Omega-chan!" he added the last part loudly, so the girl inside the room could hear him too. "G'night Kisame-senpai and Itachi-senpai!" Nobody talked, letting the sniffs of the girl locked in the room in front of them who never stopped crying since this afternoon fill the hallway they were occupying. She was out cold for a day and a half, so Konan will be here soon and she will be let out. At least, that's what they all hoped. Not only the fact that she was crying was making them feel bad, but not seeing an Omega right after the bite could be dangerous. She could start thinking they didn't care about her and such, and it would be bad for all of them. 

Kisame looked sideways at Itachi, his long-time partner, and observed him. The Sharingan was activated, as always, but there was something else deep down those red orbs. Guilt, maybe? It seemed absurd. Kisame had never seen Itachi feel guilty. Or anything else, for that matter. It was really rare for Itachi to show emotions when not alone, and Kisame was sure he was the only one to have seen any.

Itachi left.

"Well, that was rude." 

A heavy knock interrupted her self-deprecating thoughts and she got up from the bed, slowly walking to the door.

She spent all day crying, and as much as she didn't like and shouldn't cry, it helped her sort out her feelings and helped her get to her feet again. Life goes on. She heard the two men depart and 'see' her. She appreciated it and was in the state of mind to actually understand that they were leaving, so she tried to tell them to _stay, dammit. She needed them now._

"Hey, Sakura, right?" There was a beat of silence where she considered answering.

"Yeah" Another pause. "You are?" 

Sakura wasn't really interested in knowing, she had an idea of who he was judging by the voice. Deep and rough, even if a little melodic; a bass, maybe? She briefly wondered if he could sing well. The fact is, she guessed it was Kisame or that Kakuzu guy, since they were the ones with the deeper voices. 

"Kisame. I just wanted to talk to you, since we are forbidden from seeing you. Oh, and just so you know, tomorrow Konan-san will visit you. She requested us to stay out of your room." So that was why they weren't here? Who was this _Konan-san?_ Why didn't she let them enter? Didn't she know it was important for Alphas to be with their Omegas? 

"She's your superior?" There was no mocking in her question, maybe a little resentment, but he answered honestly anyway. 

"Yeah, she is. She's Leader-sama's right hand and we have to respect her orders. I have no idea what she wants to talk about with you. Maybe business? Maybe the date of your execution?" The last part was said jokingly, but he really had no idea what Konan wanted to say. She took notice of the uncertainty he _radiated_ almost immediately. 

"So, are you even allowed to be here?" She couldn't see it, but she imagined his teeth shining in the dim light of the corridor that she had never seen. 

"Smart girl. No, I'm not, so this will have to be our little secret, or I swear I'll never talk to you again, Kitten." There was sputtering from the other side of the door, then a cough. 

"I'm no idiot, Fish-face." Her stomach rumbled loudly and she thought she wanted to be buried deep underground "I _am_ , however, hungry." and the laugh that followed was contagious, so she laughed too, even if her throat felt on fire when she did so.

They laughed for at least a minute when she heard shuffling from the other side of the room. She got up quickly and backed up against the door.

"Something wrong?" Kisame asked her, but she was too concentrated on looking around the room, squinting at every corner until she saw a small ball of white on the desk beside the stack of papers. It jumped to her and she got in a defensive position, but when it got close, she was able to _see_ what it was. It was a small but really well-made cat. 

"Why is a cat in here?" she asked Kisame, who was still out there waiting for her to answer him. He laughed again, and the cat padded closer to her.

"It's from Deidara. When he heard that we couldn't enter in there he made a clay cat and placed it under your bed. I hope it's not dusty since you were out for a day and a half." She took a moment to register all that information. 

_Deidara_ , the psycho who blew up things - **and people!-** Inner added, and Sakura refrained from gagging, for fun had made her a clay companion. It was sweet, of course, but she couldn't help suspecting that something was inside the cat and she could blow up at any moment. But it also seemed _so_ harmless...

And then she remembered the other information she had to consider. 

_She had been out of it for a day and a half._

Sakura had never been affected by chakra exhaustion since her days training with Shishuo, and even then she didn't feel so _tired._ It was probably because she didn't have much chakra in those days. But now that she was meditating almost every day her supplies had increased. That made sense, yeah. The little cat mewled, getting closer to her and rubbing his sleek head on her leg. She sat down, leaning on the door, and talked to Kisame.

"You still there?" 

"Yup. So, what do you like to eat?" The man on the other side of the door seemed tired, but he made it clear by the tone of his voice that he was going to get her some food. 

"Depends. Right now I'd eat about anything you have, but if you had anmitsu it would be really nice." She joked, and he got up laughing. 

"Sweet tooth, eh Kitten? We don't have anmitsu, but we do have some mochis." The cat mewled and the girl chuckled loudly. 

"Get somethin' for him too, I guess." 

When Kisame came back, he left the plate in front of her door and unlocked it, but locked it again when she took the plate of mochis. 

"G'night, Kittens." 

"Goodnight Fish-face." 

"We will have to work on that nickname when you come out of there." He proclaimed while walking away, and the laugh inside the room was his last answer for tonight. 


	3. Part III: Familiar

Sakura didn't sleep that night. Couldn't, to be precise. She didn't know why, but her room felt empty. There was no smell, no warmth. 

She tried to meditate instead, and maybe get some more chakra in her Byakugou. Sakura hated meditating since she really couldn't stand still for too long, but Shishuo had her do it long enough for Sakura not to complain

The only problem was that damned cat. 

It was cute and soft and all that crap, but he just wouldn't stop annoying her. She was sitting on her bed trying to concentrate and this thing started rubbing itself all over her! When Sakura had enough, she swatted it away and off the bed, but it came back.

She ultimately gave up when after she picked it up and put it on the desk it came back, purring, and sat on her lap. It fell asleep soon after, and Sakura started feeling her legs go numb.

Eventually, she fell in the meditative state and started filling her seal.

Morning came too fast thought. Her door opened, and she could hear some steps -light and slow and completely calm- cross the room and sit on a chair. Nobody talked. 

Sakura remembered that a certain Konan should have visited - from what Kisame told her, this woman was to be respected.

But Sakura wasn't a man - woman, in this case - of the Akatsuki, so she didn't know if she, too, needed to follow these rules. Konan didn't say anything for a couple of minutes, and Sakura tried to open one eye to see how this Konan looked like. 

When she focused on the woman, Sakura started studying her. This woman seemed to be in her twenties, she was slim and looked a little taller than her. Her hair was well-kept, chin-length blue strands, the majority kept in a neat bun. The white rose she wore on her head seemed to be made out of paper.

Sharp edges, the petals didn't seem to stick out, just fold back in the center... Yes, definitely a paper rose.

Konan's face was neutral, her lip set in a firm line. A silver -no, black " _That's a chakra conductor. I wonder what it's for"_ _-_ piercing was displayed under the bottom lip. Sakura's eyes traveled a little further up, and she was met with burning amber. She was suddenly drowning in her pupils, but the pinkette didn't feel alarmed at all. 

Konan was looking straight at her, and her gaze wasn't as cold as Sakura expected it to be. It almost made her warm. 

She felt comfortable here, even with a total stranger in the room. She breathed in. Konan's smell was familiar. 

It was like roses and flowers and trees and... ramen? This woman smelt like Naruto. This woman smelt like home. Like Konoha. 

"Why are you here?" Sakura blurted out, and she immediately regretted it. This woman could probably kill her with the snap of her fingers, considering she was the superior of the most dangerous shinobi in the world, but Konan didn't seem offended or frustrated.

"To talk to you." It was an order, and coming from a woman like this should have been menacing. But again, Sakura didn't feel threatened at all. A moment passed before Konan laughed lightly. 

"There is no need to be so stiff. As I think you already noticed, my smell is similar to you. I will explain that on a later date. I just want to inform you that I may not know personally the Nine-tails Jinchuuriki, however the feeling you're experiencing is mutual." That was... surprising. But it also meant that she and Konan were somewhat connected by something...

 **'She's an Omega.'**

_'Are you sure? She doesn't look like the submissive type.'_ Inner snorted loudly in her mind. This will cause her a headache. 

**'Neither do we, but look where we are.'**

_'You have a point.'_

**'But don't I always?'** Definitely causing her a headache.

Sakura realized she was spacing out and reverted her attention to Konan, and her face was now adorned by a small smile. It looked more natural than the scowl she had when she entered the room.

"You're an Omega." Konan didn't change expression as she lowered her eyelids, closing her eyes and revealing a fine purple eyeshadow.

"And you're especially bright for a girl your age." Well, it wasn't exactly her who had found out, but she blushed slightly and lowered her head at the compliment nonetheless. Sakura loved compliments and praises. She was the teachers' pet after all.

"I am sure you want to know why I locked you in here." the pinkette's head snapped upwards, because _yes, she wanted to know._

"I suppose you know how an Omega's metabolism works?" Sakura nodded swiftly. She didn't specialize in that, but Shishuo had always wanted her to be qualified in all medical fields, so she studied more than the basics in almost everything medical-and-psychology-related.

"That's perfect. So you know about pre-heats?" another nod.

"Well, it's almost the end of autumn, and your smell intensifies in winter. Not only that, but your body will get weaker and, well..." Konan seemed to get a little insecure and Sakura tried to supply the terms she was searching for.

"I will get aroused?" Konan stood silent before coughing awkwardly. 

"Well, yes. While it is a light feeling for you, it will be harder for your mates to stay near you without losing their self-control. I will take care of your safety, so don't worry too much." That was oddly reassuring to hear right now. While Sakura didn't feel threatened, she felt confused and lost. She had nowhere to go now, and she certainly couldn't go back to Konoha with 6 of the Akatsuki as her mates and just expect to be accepted in the village as nothing happened. 

"T-thanks. Really. That was nice to hear." Konan's eyes softened, an expression that didn't quite fit on the face of a criminal, but on Konan? On this woman, it looked reassuring. Natural. And Sakura didn't feel as lost anymore. 

And as much as she tried, Sakura couldn't feel any resentment towards this woman. She was locked in here for her safety. Konan did it for her. For a fellow Omega.

"It's a pleasure, Haruno-san." 

"No, please. Call me Sakura." The blue-haired eyes shone brightly, and suddenly Sakura was remembered of her own teacher. 

"You can call me Konan, Sakura-san." 

There was a moment of silence, abruptly interrupted by a mew coming from her lap. The little cat was stretching there, and when it finished it looked at her sleepily.

"You know, you really ruined a moment there, cat." Sakura booped its nose, extracting a laugh from Konan.

"Deidara made you that, from its appearance. Did you give it a name yet?" The cat jumped from her to Konan, getting comfortable in her cloaked lap.   
She hadn't thought about that yet, but maybe it was a nice idea. Starting to bond with her Alphas wouldn't hurt, especially if she didn't have the chance when she woke up. 

"I didn't really think about it, but maybe Kat? With the K, you know. Because Deidara screams 'Katsu' when he makes his bombs explode." Konan nodded and pet Kat, who once again jumped from Konan to her and settled down on her lap again, purring. 

"It's a nice name. But I don't think Deidara made it just you could have a house cat to keep." Sakura looked down at the cat, and she found it staring right back at her. 

Black. But not empty. Just... black.

The rumor of the chair moving snapped both Sakura and the cat out of their staring contest, and when the pinkette noticed that Konan was getting up she asked where they were going. 

"To properly meet your Alphas, of course." Kat jumped down from her lap only to climb back on her shoulder once she got up. He wasn't heavy, just uncomfortable.

_'Yup. This will totally give me a headache.'_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to point out that Konan behaves differently with Sakura and another character that out favourite pinkette will meet personally in the future because it's her instincts that tell her to do it. She feels comfortable enough to show her true colours.
> 
> And yes, Kurama and Naruto will have a pretty decisive role in the story.


	4. Part IV: First impression

The hallways were different from what she imagined. 

While they were dark, they weren't as intricate as her mind made them be. Save that, if Konan wasn't guiding her, Sakura still wouldn't have any idea of where to head without following chakra signatures. 

Sakura wasn't a sensor type, but her perfect chakra control allowed her of things other ninjas wouldn't be able to do. Such as this. Pinpointing and recognizing distinctive chakra signatures was hard as it was, and underground was only made harder by the walls and thick columns that surrounded the place. Still, the Akatsuki's signatures were so imposing and generally _powerful as hell_ that it was no real challenge to at least get an idea of where to head.

She was following Konan now, Kat perched on her shoulder, making the injury on her leg ache from the pressure. It was starting to swell, too... she would look at that later.

"I was honestly expecting a different outcome from our conversation," Konan said, breaking the silence.

"Like?" Sakura hummed. She could see the results that may or may not have been if she had been less emotionally drained. Like her stabbed in many places or her windpipe blocked and consequentially choking to death. Considering the multiple possibilities including the previously mentioned, Sakura could see why Konan had been dubious. 

"Well, for starters I would have expected you to at least put up a fight. Physical or verbal. Which you didn't, so I suppose you already gave up on trying to escape from here. This is good for us, not only because, admittedly, another girl would be a pleasure to talk to, but an Omega marked to all our higher-ranked members would be an especially powerful tie, so to speak, between them." Konan turned to her, a small smile on her lips as she continued walking. She wanted her to guess why, Sakura realized as the gears in her head started to spin and turn and work.

"I guess that's because they feel the need to protect me?" Konan nodded, urging her to go on with the explanation she knew the younger girl had. "For them, it's like seeking out food or breathing, I guess. Alphas are, as the name suggests, the primary defense for a family or a pack. If I, the Omega and their mate, is in danger, they feel the need and obligation to keep me safe and well. So if all of them will consider that as a common objective, they will find agreement more quickly and efficiently, preventing further arguments to be made." Sakura stopped walking to think better. Keeping the pathway to her forehead open for her chakra to flow gradually was torturing if she was trying to do other things such as _think intensely and walk,_ sadly.  
"Considering the substantial differences in personalities I have witnessed -not many, may I add- I suppose arguments are a recurring event?" Sakura asked, looking at the older woman for confirmation. She nodded.

"So that would mean that missions would be completed more quickly since they would be compelled on checking on me and being near me." Sakura laughed dryly and looked up at Konan. Sakura noted that she looked self-satisfied for some reason.

"Sounds pretty oppressive, if I say so myself. Also, I don't need to be checked on. I'm independent enough to know how to protect myself." Sakura said, a confident smirk that bordered on cocky plastered on her lips.  
The weight on her shoulder was suddenly way more prominent and she turned her head, finding herself staring in black eyes once again. And once again, she didn't see an empty void at all.

"I guess you're starting to understand why Deidara made you that?" Konan said, amused. 

Sakura looked at Kat again. From head to paws. 

His head was small, but his mouth stretched further from what should be it's supposed ending, making the mouth able to open wider than normal.   
Kat's tail wasn't normal, either. It was almost divided into rounded sections. There were nine, she counted. Maybe referencing the nine lives of a cat? Sakura didn't think Deidara was the type to believe in myths.   
Kat didn't have claws, and his paws were relatively soft. His legs were long, but slim and seemed flexible enough. Cats are like that, she thought.

Still, maybe he did this little... companion to be her silent protector? She knew for a fact that Deidara's clay was explosive as hell even if the creations he made were small -hell, Naruto had been rambling on how these little bugs that were no more than her palm made entire logs taken from the eldest of trees crumble - so this little thing could be something like that. Small and seemingly innocent, but deadly and powerful and _explosive_.

"So you're my protector now, huh?" She gingerly raised her hand to his head, which he lowered to make it easier. He started purring under the ministrations, pushing back under her hand to apply more pressure.

Sakura resumed walking in silence. 

She wasn't sure what to do, now. Clearly, she couldn't run away. Not only was it bad for her, but her heart was not making her. It wouldn't make her think about leaving her Alphas.   
She would have to find a way to contact Konoha in some way, at least tell them that she was fine, that they didn't need to worry over her and that, one day, when all of the tension between the Akatsuki and her village would go away, she would return. _If_ it disappeared, that is. And _if_ she survived it.

Surely Sakura couldn't go back to her village in this time of animosity. It would put her in a position so so _so_ painfully delicate that even one wrong word could make her, Konoha _and_ the nations crumble. But it also meant that she couldn't be killed. Theoretically speaking.   
  
"I was mildly surprised that Tobi didn't barge in your room to meet you properly as soon as he saw me entering the base. He will... glomp you, for a lack of a better term, as soon as he will see you, however. Tobi is very _affectionate,_ as you will witness soon." Konan said, slowing down the steady pace she established as to wait for her. 

The door appeared on her right, making a turn and -her hair raised, her eyes widened and Sakura felt someone trying to get too close without her consent, screaming something very similar to "Omega-chan!" - she moved quickly, dodging whoever was trying to get to her before a big ball of black fabric came tumbling from the door. 

Konan turned to her, her expression unreadable and head tilted to the side. At that moment, Sakura felt evaluated. She straightened her spine instinctively, lifting her chin.   
The blue-haired woman didn't say anything as the man on the floor didn't try to get up. A blonde mop of hair appeared from the door, and together with it Deidara's shit-eating grin.   
  
"That was cool, yeah."   
  
Kat jumped on the ground and walked to him, then stopped.

Sakura didn't think he meant what he said. Shinobi had great reflexes. What she did just now was just a thing every well-trained genin should be able to do. 

It was nothing special, really.

Still, she faced the blonde with a smile, crinkling her eyes to make it look real. 

"Thanks, Deidara-san." He made a displeased face and got closer to her, promptly jumping over the man -surprisingly still on the ground - and grabbed her upper arm.

"I don't like formalities, Kunoichi. Just call me Deidara or some cheesy nickname you girls like to give to people, yeah." She was about to answer that she would shove his 'cheesy nickname' up his ass but decided against it when the boy on the ground groaned. She was at his side in a flash, leaving Deidara's side to kneel beside Tobi. She didn't see the thunderous glare the blonde sent the masked man.

"I'm so sorry, Tobi-kun." Sakura apologized hastily, her tone soft. Last time she had seen him, he sounded like a little kid, so she had quickly decided that maybe it was best to stick with her attitude at the hospital. Positive, sweet, and gentle. At the hospital in Konoha, she was great with kids.   
Kakashi had told her many times. 

The boy sniffled and Sakura felt like he was pouting under the mask. She could see his eye, puffy and glistening and black. She made a comforting noise and hugged him lightly. She still wasn't too comfortable, but her caring nature could make her do drastic things. 

_'Another damn reason why I can't leave them. I would surely meet them again on the battlefield if they didn't kill themselves and the reunion wouldn't be good.'_ Sakura reasoned with herself. Caution out of the window (relatively, she still needed to not kill herself in this madhouse full of psychos) she resumed talking to Tobi, voice still soft.

"Listen, Tobi-kun," she felt him murmur something along the lines of 'Tobi is a good boy' and continued, having his attention.   
"I am very sorry about making you fall. I just thought that someone was attacking me, you know? I am still not used to your smells." _Unlike at home_ went unsaid.   
Naruto jumped on her all the time, but she didn't ever really feel scared. Just surprised, maybe? Still, she always knew who was around her because she recognized and memorized all her friends' scents.

Naruto smelled like Ramen and sunshine. Or at least, that's what she dubbed his smell.   
Kakashi-sensei (He didn't want her to call him that) smelled _just like_ paper. And forest. But that was a given since paper came from trees. Oh well.

And there were many, many others she memorized, but these two were the only ones she had to remember all the time, perfectly, at all costs. It was important for missions. 

Tobi finally decided that she was forgiven and hugged her back, making Sakura feel like her back was about to break. Looking at Deidara and asking for help silently, hoping he would notice her and _goddamn help her she was being crushed_ , she took in his annoyed yet slightly amused expression. 

"Tobi-kun, I think it's time for you to release her." Sakura froze and held her breath, heedless of the fact that Tobi had loosened his grip on her. Itachi was at the doorframe, Sharingan for once deactivated. _'Same eyes as_ Sasuke-kun' she thought, but then observed better.  
While Sasuke's eyes were cold, empty, and maybe, if Sakura willed her mind to be absolutely impartial, cruel. Itachi's eyes were... different. Oh, don't get her wrong, she didn't see any 'strong emotion' or any 'burning passion', but at least they were more... expressive? While they weren't warm, they also weren't cold, like Sasuke's.  
  
Sakura decided that she liked Itachi's eyes. Normal eyes, that is. She dreaded his fucking Sharingan.

"Oh great, now Uchiha has the girl all over him, yeah. Sakura, get up, I need to introduce you to these assholes." Deidara said, sounding bored. But the tick in his only visible eye told her he was greatly annoyed.   
Sakura scoffed, indignant. She wasn't letting herself get charmed and swoon over Itachi Uchiha just because he was hot. 

**'Insanely hot, Babe. Like, we have a whole organization of hotties at our feet.'** Inner snickered in her head, her fantasies not quite clear and yet visible. Sakura didn't stop to look at the surely atrocious scenarios her other mind was creating. But Inner wasn't saying anything that couldn't be possible. She was a medic-nin. Sakura could reduce these criminals in a pile of hormonal goo while standing still if she wanted to. 

It was simple, really. Just by diverting her chakra around the glands - _seated in the juncture of the head and the neck, right under the chin. They have an oval form, Sakura, pay attention to that! -_ she could block the flow of the pheromones, trapping them inside the bubble of chakra she created. It was dangerous releasing it, as had happened before. That was the method that required less chakra.   
If you wanted to stop the production of these pheromones, then you should let the chakra seep in the glands. That should last for at least 4 hours.   
Her Shishuo had taught her how to cover her scent right after it was revealed that she was an Omega since Tsunade didn't want anything to happen to her.   
Her mother never concerned herself with such matters. Sakura doubted her mother even knew her class in the hierarchy, sadly. 

Haruno Mebuki was a sweet mother when she wanted to. It seemed that she didn't have the will to do that, however, and Sakura was often left by herself. Now, Sakura loved her mother, but she couldn't say that she was as present as the pinkette wanted her to be. Of course, being a stage woman, her mom had little to no time to dedicate to her child. So, when that little to no time came, Mebuki was with Sakura all the time.

Which, at some point, got on Sakura's nerves. 

Mebuki had wanted to _enter in one of the emergency rooms Sakura was operating a patient in.  
  
_ Safe to say, Sakura's mother didn't get along with Sakura. As much as the pinkette tried to really understand her mother, she just couldn't bring herself to accept the invasion of privacy her mother performed every time she was home. She just couldn't stop herself from telling her that if she left some room for Sakura's opinion, then all of this would be better. The obviously too-high-standards her mother set for Sakura didn't help the situation either, because as much as Sakura studied, her mother could never bring herself to actually appreciate her daughter's effort. It was always something like: 'Yes, Sakura. Good job,' and nothing more. 

And that irked Sakura. It made her mad. The livid memories of the nights spent awake just to memorize a specific paragraph that just wouldn't stick with her in the academy had only heightened the flame. Because Sakura tried and tried yet again, but her own mother never seemed content with her results.

**'It's actually astounding on how you started this thing by reasoning on how to make these guys fell to their knees, and now we are talking about your attention-seeking problems, Babe.'**

Sakura sighed deeply just as Deidara started dragging her in what seemed the living room, a big room with two couches and three armchairs, one big shelf full of books (she will devour that thing) and a big shark man sitting on one of the couches. Said shark man turned and grinned, showing not only the biggest grin she had ever seen, but also rows of sharp teeth that quite scared her.  
Still, Kisame seemed to be somewhat gentle. Last night he was the only one who had talked to her, so she assumed he was the one charged with the task to make sure she was ok, but upon hearing that he shouldn't have been there, she realized that he did that out of his own will, going as far as breaking the rules imposed to him to check on her.

Kisame had been kind - kinder than many people she had met in her life - so she will be kind to him, too.  
Sakura smiled at the blue man, disentangled her hand with Deidara's, and started walking to the armchair right beside the couch.   
Deidara seemed to catch her predicament, as he sat beside Kisame and crossed his arms in front of his chest. 

Itachi stood quietly behind them, and Tobi hopped on the other couch as Konan moved to stand behind her, laying her hands on Sakura's shoulders. 

The room smelled amazing. There was not only Konan's scent lulling her to peace, but the pleasant odors of the males in the room as well.   
Kat jumped in her lap and sat there, silently judging the men in the room.  
The hands on her shoulder squeezed slightly, and Sakura looked up at Konan, giving a pretty good sight of her long, pale neck and the crescent marks on it.

Sakura couldn't hear or see it, but Deidara puffed his chest proudly with a low huff.

 _'Konan has really pretty eyes'_ Observing Konan like this, so close to her face, Sakura could see details that she previously didn't notice. Like the little slits of gold in the bluette's eyes. Or the glittery coat that her eyeshadow had.

"Sakura-san, do you have any questions?" Said girl took a moment more to appreciate Konan's face, before lowering her head to look at the men present in the room. They were all staring at her intently.   
Sakura hummed silently, thinking of the first question she could do.

Well, she wanted to know why they had gone from wanting to kill her to mark her, but she supposed it was because they had sunk into a haze and couldn't really think properly.   
She also wanted to ask Deidara if her suspicions about Kat were true. In that case, she had to ask him how it worked, as not to get blown up herself. 

Oh, and his hands. She wanted to inspect them and maybe take some notes. Right! Her notes! She had a backpack when they had captured her, but it wasn't in her room if she remembered correctly. There were many important notes there, as she was theorizing about a poison made from herbs that grew in the area her mission was assigned in. She had even gathered some specimens of that same herb to test it out. Those things were very important.

"Where are my backpack and pouches? I had some quite important things in there." Sakura said, looking at the boys she would have to live her life with. Probably.   
Itachi wordlessly moved to the door, and as her eyes trail after his low ponytail, he reaches a corner of the room and picks up something. That something is her bag.

He walks calmly back to her like she isn't staring with wide eyes at the only thing that was in her possession right now excluding her clothes. Sakura reaches for it, and Itachi complies, handing her the bag and its contents that she had worked so hard to obtain. 

Sakura quickly opens her bag, unzipping the top and checking if all three of her thick notebooks are there.  
The medic-nin was really attached to all of them, as they were all hers and hers only.  
She had filled two of these thick guys in two years, right when she started working at the hospital: these writings were a piece of her past. These notebooks contained all her researches including Sasori's poison, which she had studied more thoroughly and made a more specific antidote for; still not perfect, but she decided to let it sit while she studied something else and then came back to it with a clearer mind. (The memory makes a smile appear on her face and her eyes soften; she enjoyed challenges, and this one was the hardest yet. The movement of her mouth doesn't go unnoticed by the people in the room, who were studying her intently.)  
She finds the notebooks stacked not so neatly (but really, did she even expect them to be upright? After all the fighting and running she had done, it was a miracle they weren't crumpled and destroyed) but mostly intact, right beside the little plastic bag which contained the pieces of Aconitum she had collected so patiently and carefully. The flower was beautiful, but if the Acotine they contained was extracted and refined, it was possibly deadly if not treated. She had found that combined with some other chemicals it could kill in minutes and that someone had made an even more complex poison deriving from the basic recipe that she needed to study. It had killed many shinobi in the leaf and just a month ago a Genin was brave enough to take back a corpse infected by the poison. She was studying and noting down whatever addition came to mind and was trying to create the antidote. 

Grabbing the small bag, Sakura brings it close to her face and inspects the contents. Nothing is majorly damaged, but she will probably have to pick up some new specimens and dry them to analyze their structure.   
Kisame decided to chuckle and startle the pinkette out of her musings, almost making her drop the bag. Narrowed green meets beady gray and Kisame grins, sprawling on the couch and almost hitting Deidara with his elbow.

"You're such a nerd, Kitten." Her eyes narrowed further, but a smirk was playing on her face.

"What if I am, Fish-face? What are you going to do about that?" Sakura challenged, her eyes shining with mischief. He laughed heartily at her challenge and pointed a finger at her.  
"First, I already told you that we should really work on that nickname. Second, I wouldn't do anything 'bout it, Kitten." He said, eying her with a smirk. His eyes seemed to be roaming a little further than she wanted to, and the pinkette blushed self-consciously and embraced the small clay cat tighter to cover her body.   
Konan's hands left her shoulder with a last squeeze and she started walking out. Sakura's eyes followed her slender form until she was at the doorframe and when she reached it, the older woman turned around with a serious expression.

"Leader-sama will want to talk to you," auburn eyes locked with emerald and Sakura's breath itched "it's time we _really_ decide what to do with you, Sakura."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I took sooooo much more time than I wanted to, but I think it came out well enough.  
> Itachi is so freaking hard to write, so I had to make his entrance at least 3 times because I had absolutely NO IDEA on how to make him appear. At last, I just gave him one line because yes.  
> Also, I played around with the poison and his effects, since technically Aconite is a real thing. Oh well.
> 
> P.S. Was that dive in Sakura's mentality too much? Cuz I thought I should start explaining how she feels, but lemme know.


	5. Part V: Masterpiece

There was silence in the room as Konan walked out.   
Sakura felt herself tremble but steeled herself as she remembered who she was in a room with.  
It would give away that they had more power over her and her emotions than she would like to let on. 

Mates or not, they were still Akatsuki. 

Itachi's smooth and deep, although impassive voice, interrupted the awkward moment.   
"Leader usually summons us through our rings," He raised his hand -where a red ring with the kanji for ' _crimson_ ' stood out- to emphasize, before crossing his arms and looking pointedly at Kisame and Deidara.

"One of us has to stay with Sakura-san." Sakura really wanted to ignore the pleasant shiver that ran down her spine when her name rolled off his tongue but found herself incapable. 

"Tobi will stay with Sakura-chan! Tobi will!" The masked boy offered but reeled back in the couch cushions when Deidara started a rumble in his chest.

"Hell no! You'll tire her out after ten minutes! Plus, you probably don't even know how to entertain a girl. I'm staying with her," he barked, and just as she was about to intervene and tell Deidara to calm down, Tobi tried defending himself. 

"B-but, Deidara-sempai, Tobi wanted to spend time with Sakura-chan!" he said, and Sakura felt moved by the sheer amount of honesty in his voice. Deidara was about to stand up, the growling never stopping, but Kisame's hand blocked him and the older man looked at the blonde, a smirk playing on his lips.

"Now, now, calm yourself, pup." He popped the last syllable audibly, making Deidara grunt in disdain.

Itachi shook his head, a scowl making way on his handsome face.  
"Deidara, don't act immature." 

Deidara's eye flashed and he lunged, but Kisame's hand was enough to at least hold him back. Sakura didn't know how to intervene at this point.  
The teasing of the two men had pissed Deidara off, and this situation was making her stressed. The bomber was clawing at Kisame's arm, trying to pry it off and get to the Uchiha, but the Kiri-nin stood there, smirk still in place.

"I'll show you immature, you royal bastard!" Sakura was in the sideline, watching as Deidara succeeded in removing the blue hand off of him with a bite from his hand, and was now fighting Itachi. 

Deidara was also overproducing to try and overdo the others in the room, making it smell like earth and sweat. His eye was narrowed to a slit and was focused on the raven-head in front of him, and Sakura could see the peek of extended canines. This wouldn't end well if no one didn't stop them. The pinkette searched Kisame with her eyes, but he was looking at the two men fighting and he seemed to enjoy it. 

She would have to deal with this herself, she realized. Her eyes shone with determination and a plan came to mind. 

This could be dangerous and if she messed up it would be a problem, but Sakura messed up very rarely and that was when she cooked.

Sakura wobbly got up, shooing up Kat, and approached the two men. Slowly and as gently as possible, she touched Deidara's arm.   
Itachi saw her predicament and jumped backward, letting her do her thing. 

The blonde turned to her, and the movement made his fringe reveal his other eye. They were both blown wide, and Sakura stood still for a moment, letting him sniff her. When he recognized her and when he relaxed a little, she placed both her hands on his arm, lowering it to his side.   
He surprised her, however, by grabbing her and pushing her flush against him, burying his face in her hair. She found herself planted right in his chest and surrounded by his smell. Inhaling, she tried not to melt in his arms.   
Small tremors shook her continuously, and with the silence that had created in the room, she could perfectly hear the constant sound coming from the base of his throat. It wasn't threatening, but it resembled a growl. Was Deidara purring? 

Slowly, because she knew he was still in a daze and he wouldn't come out of it for at least twenty minutes more, she pushed against his chest, distancing herself from him. When he didn't release from the tight embrace, her arms moved to his face. She could feel him inhaling deep breaths against her head and let him do it again one more time before lightly touching his jawline, he stiffened but didn't stop purring, so she knew she had his attention. 

"Deidara, could you please let me go?" She spoke softly, like a mother to a child, but he didn't let her go. Sakura tried again.

"Dei, could you please let me go?" He seemed to consider and loosened his hold a bit, but when he looked over her shoulder at who she assumed was either Tobi or Kisame, he tightened his hold even more. She felt him mutter something in her hair and almost choked when she realized he was chanting 'I marked you first'. 

Usually, Omegas didn't have more than two partners, and even then it could cause problems.   
Deidara had more competition, and he was the youngest out of the group, from what she remembered (Which would probably explain why Kisame called him 'pup'). That probably meant he felt inferior and wanted to prove himself capable of...well, protecting her, prompting the aggressive behavior he displayed when he felt either he or she were being insulted or threatened.  
This feeling of possession was probably heightened by her impending pre-heat.  
Sakura had seen relationships crumble because of the same problem. She had been a silent observer in Inoichi's office when he organized meetings for all of the people included in these types of bonds, so she knew what to do in these cases. But doing in on her mates and herself felt kinda strange.  
Still, Sakura didn't think Deidara would be this insecure about it. He was sinfully good-looking a year ago, and now that his jaw was sharper and his build and features were more masculine, Sakura found herself thinking she was in the arms of a sex-god and that he was purring for her, silently begging for her attention on him only. 

She filed the information about Deidara and got back to try and clear up his head a little from the fog that had certainly set in his mind, indecent thoughts be damned.

"Dei, we can move to the other couch so you don't have to stand, ne? Wouldn't it be nicer?" She asked sweetly, using the nickname she had given him because he seemed to prefer it, mentally praying that Tobi got the hint to move away and let them have space. After all, she didn't want to be in the middle of another squabble.  
He paused another time in his inhaling, and then let her go, still clinging to her arm. Sakura looked at the couch: fortunately, Tobi _had_ moved.   
Deidara dragged her the few steps he had to take before taking her down with him, setting her in his lap and resuming in his sniffing.  
She reached tentatively up in his hair, dragging long and slender fingers over his scalp.

He melted against the couch and resumed purring like a motor in the crook of her neck. 

She heard Kisame get up silently and apparently so did Deidara because his head shot up and his hands -previously on her sides- circled her completely and his purr turned into a growl again.

His snarl was scary to see up close, but what set her on edge were his handmouths' teeth clicking together.

She applied more pressure on his scalp, distracting him and giving Kisame a chance to get out of here before Deidara in his dazed state decided he was a threat and even she couldn't do a thing about it. She was sure that Kisame could handle himself well, being a heavy-hitter and Deidara being a long-range fighter, but Sakura preferred if none of her mates got hurt. For now. She had yet to meet the other pairing and she had a feeling it wasn't going to be easy.

"Thanks, Kitten." And he was out with the other two.

Sakura sighed, looking up at the young male who was looking at her, eyes still blown wide and frantic.

"Dei, try and calm down. I'm here. You're with me. They agreed to let me stay with you." She observed as he looked around, inspecting the room in search of the others. When he didn't find them, he turned back to her and just... stared for a while. 

"You're my Omega." It wasn't a question, and she thought she heard a little of disbelief creeping in his voice. Sakura nodded and ran her fingers through his golden locks. 

"I am. You marked me, remember?" She extended her neck to make him see the mark he had left. He nuzzled her neck affectionately, breathing down her neck and making goosebumps rise on her arms.

"Yeah. I was the first who marked you." Sakura was slowly going high on his smell, both the attention on her neck and his hands, now back to her hips, helping as he slowly trailed up to her face.

Then, more surely, he repeated "I was the first one who marked you." as if it explained everything. 

The pinkette wasn't sure what to answer. He was, in fact, the first one who had marked her. But she couldn't just prefer him over the others for that reason. Sakura had, maybe, the most difficult role in this complicated situation. She had to make sure nobody fought, make sure everyone went along. That was the role of the Omega.

"I'll take care of you, yeah. You're my Omega." He pulled them down on their side on the big couch and held her close, burying his head in her hair again. 

Thirty minutes passed in silence, only Deidara's purring and their breathing filling the room. It was relaxing.  
Their mingling smells felt good, his arms around her felt good. She felt protected. Guarded.   
She felt herself purring before she could stop it, but found that she didn't care. A part of her thought it was strange to be in a situation like this just after meeting him, but hormones were hormones, she guessed. 

Sakura was lulled in a state of half awareness by the time Deidara's head was clear again, and he slowly removed his head from the crook her neck.

"Oi. Kunoichi." Sakura glared sleepily at him, not wanting to get up just yet.

"Call me Sak'ra, Deidara." he rolled his blue, blue eye - it looks like the sky...- but didn't say anything more.

"So, watcha wanna do now, yeah? I told the others I was going to stay with you, but I have no idea of what you like to do." Without saying a word or making a sound, she got up lazily, hair a mess, and expression sleepy.

Deidara tried not to find it lovable but failed miserably when he looked at her cute face.

Spotting a wool blanket, she got up to grab it. It was big and warm and smelled lightly like lavender. She threw it on the couch Deidara was still seated on, looking at her intently, and stumbled in the room adjacent to the living room where she smelled food.

Food was good now.

Sniffing around and trying not to look like a hound looking for his prey _too much_ , she started opening cabinet after cabinet. Admittedly, there wasn't much, but she eventually picked up the smell of sugar and her eyes zeroed on a cabinet. It was filled with sweet things, but what she really wanted was the pack of strawberry mochis on the top shelf. Unfortunately, Sakura wasn't known for her height, and she couldn't reach it. 

She still hadn't shaken out of her sleepy state, and right now what she wanted were _those mochis._  
Sakura didn't care if she sounded like a child when she whined, she did it anyway and it almost always worked. Still, she didn't like it and she didn't do it frequently.

"Deidara! I'm a small being and I need your help! Now!" her words were a little slurred and she wasn't sure he had heard her correctly, but Sakura heard him chuckle and get up from the couch and tried to reach one more time for the craved treat, not liking the idea of having to ask for help.

She cursed and jumped, almost tripping on herself one time before the blonde saved her day by just stretching a little and grabbing her treasure, handing it to her with a much-too-smug smirk on his handsome face. She related her comment to her state of mind and went on with her day.   
She could at least try and not swoon over their looks. Not now. 

The girl mumbled an incoherent thanks and made her merry way to the unfairly comfy couch with Deidara in tow and mochi in hand.   
Dropping the bag on the coffee table and picking one ball of goodness out of it, she curled up in the wool blanket and chewed small bites of the sugary treat.   
Deidara plopped himself right beside her, a mochi for himself held in hand. He was looking at her and seemed to be thinking something.   
Finally, he seemed to decide what he wanted to say and turned to her. 

"Is there space for me in there, yeah?" Now fairly awake, Sakura glared at him.   
"Depends, do you plan on holding me hostage?" The blonde seemed more than happy to tease her when he answered, a smirk tugging at his lips. 

"Of course I do, yeah. You smell so good, too, so you're the best hostage to hold close, ya know?" 

Opening the small shelter she made for herself, Sakura silently permitted him to come close.   
Shinobi had to be careful with who they let close and they both knew it, but he didn't seem to want to harm her. He would have already done so if he really did.  
He crawled towards her and she wrapped the blanket around his shoulders too before curling up more in his warmth.

"Y'know," He smushed his face against her shoulder a little harder "I wouldn't mind if you gave me an itty bitty thanks-kiss." Sakura gaped at the blond she held in her arms. 

"Deidara! I-" 

"Or scream my name like that in another context -" 

"DEIDARA!" 

He laughed when she pushed him off and away from her, making him fall off the couch with a small 'oof'. His shout of protest went to deaf ears as she sniffed and turned away, blushing brightly.  
Sex was off-topic for Sakura. She had seen her fair share of genitals, but she was in no way ready to have sex or anything close to it. Sakura had insisted that her busy schedule didn't permit her to have any serious relationships, and eventually she convinced herself. Plus, she always thought of that one day, when Sasuke-kun would come back.  
Sakura had had a couple of partners and she certainly didn't hold back with holding hands or cuddling as long as she initiated the thing, those were normal things that she appreciated to some degree, but she had never kissed anyone, be it on the cheek or lips. She didn't know why, but it just didn't feel right with any of the people she had been with. 

"For one, I won't scream _any of your names_ and two, hell no. I won't kiss you." He pouted from the ground and she closed the wool blanket around her tighter, distrusting. 

"Maybe just one little kiss on the cheek? I do deserve it, yeah? I got you food." One on the cheek won't hurt, right? 

Sighing in defeat, she patted the space in front of her. She didn't look at the blonde in front of her until he was leaning right in front of her face, cheek turned towards her, full-blown grin in place, and if anybody asked, Sakura would have told them she was _not blushing, dammit._

Slowly exhaling a breath she didn't know she was holding, she leaned forward and a little up to meet Deidara's soft and tanned skin. 

It was quick, but Deidara felt his heart jump and spin and sing. Her hot breath on his cheekbone didn't help either, the skin tingling and reddening involuntarily as he tried to fight his blush. He was a deadly criminal, but sometimes even himself forgot he was still a teenager. Puppy love was still a thing and he didn't know how to act on it. Deidara had certainly had sex, women found him attractive and the most daring were ready to try and use his handmouths, but he never had something so innocent and mundane like this.   
He almost forgot what she was capable of.

He heard Sakura huff and he had the impression she crossed her arms on her chest under the heavy blanket. The blush had disappeared from her face, but the adorable pout wasn't anything to go by. 

"Happy?" 

"Very, yeah." He grinned and more or less lunged for her. She didn't have the time to react and she found herself with an armful (but not really, her hands were under the blanket) of enthusiastic blonde Alpha.

Sakura started falling asleep again. Man, she was always a sucker for nice smelling men. 

"So you want to be a sushi roll or do something?" He said quietly after a while, looking down at the small girl.   
To his surprise, her eyes were lidded and she was clearly about to sleep. Not the one to waste a chance to cuddle with his Omega, Deidara grabbed the wool cover. It was large enough for both of them to fit in, so there was no problem. 

"Deid'ra, what're you doin'?" Her words were slurred as she talked, making it difficult to really understand. 

"You seem comfortable in that blanket, Pinky. Mind if I try?" she glared at him through her thick eyelashes and Deidara took that as a warning to leave her alone in the blanket and not get closer than the fabric confines permitted already. He begrudgingly let go and re-did the cocoon she created before curling around her. 

The blanket was really warm. Deidara smelled good. She shifted more against him, burying her face in his neck. He moved and wrapped his arms around her, dragging her on him. She could feel his body, hard and lean and one sculpted with years of hard training even though the cover. The Omega part of her mind was melting and she could feel her throat muscles thrumming and vibrating, purring deeply.   
He didn't hold her too tightly, but enough to make her feel his presence around her. It was the most intimate she had ever got with a boy and while it was strange and kinda scary to be like this with her former enemy, those feelings were quickly repressed when his chest rumbled in response to hers.  
  
 _'He's one of my mates, so sooner or later he will be in this position.'_

Sakura always fell asleep faster face down, anyway. 

* * *

When Deidara woke up, it was because his ring was starting to tingle and glow, sending a cool and fairly unpleasant feel up his arm. He opened his eye to see Sakura on his chest, with her cheek smushed against it. Even if there was a trail of spit on his shirt, he found he didn't mind at all. Her cotton-candy hair was sprawled around her like a veil, covering a part of her face. He gently brushed it away and she didn't even stir.   
He snorted. So much for being a formidable Kunoichi. Still, his expression was soft when he looked her over better.   
She was clutching his shirt, the wool blanket slipping off at some point during their nap, exposing a part of her shirt.

 _'She's still got her mission clothes... I'll get her something later.'_

The cool sensation turned to downright cold and Deidara knew that Leader was patient to a certain degree.   
Disentangling himself and trying not to wake Sakura up, the blonde quickly sat up and formed the ram seal, his form soon appearing in Akatsuki's meeting room.   
Lightly bowing his head as to apologize, Leader dismissed his tardiness and started the rollcall.   
  
"I'm glad I could gather you all here. How is the young child doing?" Knowing Leader was referred to the Omega in their secondary base, Hidan and Kakuzu turned their utmost attention to the conversation. Being absent didn't mean they didn't want to know what was going on. 

Konan looked around the room to the males she left Sakura with, asking for an answer to Pein's question.  
Kisame chuckled and looked at Deidara, who was lazily grinning with pure satisfaction hanging around him. 

"Sakura-chan was very kind to Tobi! Tobi likes her a lot!" Leader promptly ignored the masked man's input and raised an eyebrow towards the others.

"Ask the pup, he's the one we left her with." Deidara glared sharply at Kisame, who only laughed out loud.

"Don't call me that. It's horrible," He bit out sharply, but his grin returned and he proceeded to talk when Leader was looking intently at him.

"Sakura's doing fine, yeah," he said, then knowing his colleagues would press for information when interested, he continued on "she ate mochis, we talked a little and she fell asleep. Easy as that, yeah." He may have left out the part where she kissed him -it was still important to him!- and _they_ fell asleep, but that wasn't for these bastards to know.

Leader seemed satisfied with Deidara's answer and nodded, lightening the weight on his shoulders as he removed his unnerving eyes from his flickering form. 

"Now, Konan," the woman seemed unfazed as purple eyes settled over her, "I entrust you the job to guide her. Tomorrow evening you two will depart and come in Rain, I want to personally meet the young girl." Everybody tensed, even if unnoticeably. 

"We still need to meet her too, Leader-sama." without missing a beat, Pein nodded his head and turned to the zombie pair.

"Of course, but there are..." his eyes darted to Konan "important matters we will need to discuss first. Even if this wasn't a predicted situation, I plan on taking care of it fully, even if would stop our plans for some time. She is still young and in need of guidance. I, as God, will take care of that." Hidan scoffed but said nothing, clearly not sharing Leader's opinion.

"If nobody has any questions, we can continue the meeting." When nobody answered, Pein nodded.

"Perfect."

Halfway through the meeting, Deidara started wondering why he couldn't just have stayed with his Sakura. 

_'Wait, my Sakura?'_ After a pause and realizing that that adjective sounded _right,_ he thought about the way she hugged him, the way she clutched at his shirt and cuddled with him and scratched his scalp in that _delicious_ way and the way she so shyly kissed his cheek, getting his insides in a turmoil. The way she purred for and with him, and the way she seemed so comfortable with him when her barriers were down.   
The day in the cave suddenly came to mind, when he flew over it and saw the giant crater. When he saw her eyes after she broke the giant boulder blocking the entrance. They were on fire, alight with passion burning so hot that could burn the world around her.

She was art, he was the artist. She was a masterpiece, and he would make sure to claim her before anyone else could.

A feral, crazy grin stretched across his face displaying elongated canines dripping with venom -the same venom that ran through her now, and this train of thought sent a pleasant shiver to his core-, and silently, thought aloud, he whispered to himself, "Mine, yeah," missing the concerned look both Konan and Pein, one on either side of the blonde, sent him. 

* * *

Deidara came to it with a weight on his leg, and, looking down, he saw one of Sakura's feet leisurely resting on it. 

"Since when did I become a footrest for you, yeah?" He asked, looking up at her. She apparently didn't notice him, because she startled and looked up from whatever she was doing under the cover. 

"Oh, hi. You became one when I put my foot on you, clearly. Any other stupid questions?" He held back a smile while trying to peek under the fabric and narrowed his eyes. 

"What are you doing?" her mouth formed a little 'o' and she removed the cover, showing her hand on her leg, glowing with green chakra. It seemed to draw him in, a pretty shade of green similar to her eyes'. Leaning forward to get a closer look, she swatted his head away with a light slap on his temple. 

"Shoo. I need to see what I'm doing." resting his head towards her, he let his eyes scan over her bent form. Her hair -still tousled- hung around her head, and his hand hitched to pull it back. He stopped himself before he did, remembering that she didn't want intimate contact with him before and would probably not want it now.   
She looked really concentrated on whatever she was doing. 

Sakura had seen his hand twitch out of the corner of her eye, and was right now trying very hard not to blush under his intense stare. She felt kind of bad for rejecting him like that, but she really was uncomfortable with him being so close to her without a barrier of some sort. Maybe she could make it up or explain? She wasn't really a touchy person... 

"TOBI IS BACK SAKURA-CHAN!" The boy barreled in the room, comically jumping between her and Deidara, successfully landing on her foot. She grunted in pain, quickly removing her poor limb from the masked man.

"Hi Tobi. How was the meeting? Please tell me about it." She heard Kisame and Itachi enter the room and she waved in their direction, and just when Tobi finished talking Itachi approached her with something in hand. It seemed like fabric.

Wordlessly, he dropped on her lap a simple blue t-shirt and black leggings that didn't quite seem to be made for Itachi. The raven-head got on the balls of his feet in front of her and very gently took her hands, the wide pads of his fingers stroking her palm almost affectionately. She noticed Deidara's huff of anger, but didn't know why he would have any reason to be mad. 

"Sakura-san, if there is something I can do to assist you, please don't hesitate to ask. These clothes are Konan's." Nodding in thanks at Itachi, he waited for a second longer to stand up and get back to one of the armchairs, obsidian orbs roaming her face. Thinking, Sakura turned to Kisame. 

"I would need some bandages." Deidara was on her in a second examining what was visible of her arms and legs before looking at her, raising a thin blonde eyebrow.

"You don't seem injured, yeah." 

Sometimes, Sakura was surprised men would even live in this world.

She glanced down at herself and turned back to stare at him in the eye, communicating silently that if he pressed further he'd be put into the _goddamn wall._  
Realization crossed his face for a second and then he was on her again, this time smirking like the devil. Sakura felt trapped and remembered just who this guy was. 

"I could help you, Sakura." Her name rolled off his tongue in a seductive way, her insides twisting just by hearing the sound of it.

Deidara was, however, grabbed by the scruff of his neck and lifted before he could do anything else but squeak in a very unmanly way. 

"Pup, don't harass her," Kisame said, putting the protesting blonde down and tossing her a roll of black patching. She nodded in thanks and got up, stopping by the door and turning back to the blue nin. 

"I -uh... I may have forgotten how to get to my room?" A tap on her shoulder and she was facing Konan, the woman having just arrived from her room. She took her hand and started guiding her back to her room.

Sakura waved helplessly at the males before she disappeared in the doorway. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right now I am merely establishing their personalities and trying to get a grasp of the characters, so bear with me.  
> Anyway, next chapter the A/B/O Dynamics will be explained further by our dearie Konan and I swear to god I love that woman.
> 
> Love yall, leave a comment if you'd like, I always adore to interact and read your opinions. ❤


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